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A Skinful of Shadows

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With considerable pressure after the incredible success and critical acclaim for The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge managed to once again mesmerize readers with her unique and imaginative style of storytelling with her latest book A Skinful of Shadows. However, sixty years on, Rose still a sixteen-year-old is running from her mysterious killer and takes refuge at various places across the country that has given rise to other urban legends.

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge Book Review: A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge

However, things always don’t turn out that way and it is tough to convince a spirit to move on once they have been murdered or their death are a complete mystery. The Skinful of Shadows was a great book with a very original plot, and a mix of history and fantasy. Makepeace lives in the 1600's during the civil war and is sent to live with the rich Fellmottes who can carry inside them and she is trying to hide the secret of the bear living inside her. I had learnt about civil war in History lessons, and it was interesting to find out about this time in history. I also liked how it describes both sides of the war and the variety of characters Makepeace meets. Rating 9/10Just like The Lie Tree, A Skinful of Shadows feels like a less extravagant and less fantastical novel because it is deeply rooted in the history of our world. Whereas Hardinge’s earlier novels were firmly set in secondary world fantasies, The Lie Tree was a Victorian mystery and A Skinful of Shadows, a story set in the beginning of the British Civil War.

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge | Waterstones

What are you doing here?' It was uttered in tones of outrage and surprise, and in a voice as cold and musical as the clinking of cups. 'Who do you think you are? This is my family.' After that, however? The book went from being possessed by the ghost of a bear to a story of fantasy intrigue in the days of England's Civil War in the 17th century. Charley can not only talk to the dead but it is also her job to convince them to go over to the other side – to the light – after their death.

1) A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge is a historical fiction book set during the English Civil War. Sometimes when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. Sone people have space within them, where these spirits can hide. Twelve-year-old Makepeace has learned he defend herself from the ghosts that haunt her in the night. However, one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her defence. Now a spirit is inside of her and it might be her only defence when she is sent to live with her father’s rich and powerful ancestors. A civil war is imminent between the King and Parliament and Makepeace must decide what she wants to do with her life. And Trust was like mould. It accumulated over time in unattended areas. Trusting her was convenient; distrusting her would have been inconvenient and tiresome. Over the years, Makepeace had become encrusted with other people's inattentive trust. A Skinful of Shadows' is a great book full of mystery, secrets and the supernatural. However I do not think it focuses too much about the time and context, although it does not mean it is not present, but it is not the theme of the story. But it is a very good book that I would recommend to anyone interested In ghosts and the supernatural. Mother was like this sometimes. Conversations became riddles with traps in them, and your answers had consequences.” Hardinge does not recycle her settings and ideas. In every book she creates something new, unique and complex, with solid internal rules and consistency, fleshed-out so well that these worlds feel alive and real. She does not fall prey to tropes and always takes her stories somewhere you wouldn’t be able to predict from the get-go.

Engrossing Non-Scary Books With Ghosts As Main Characters Engrossing Non-Scary Books With Ghosts As Main Characters

It starts as a horror story, a haunted story, and transforms into historical fantastical mystery/intrigue, with ghosts and spies and war and cruelty and conspiracies. It’s not the supernatural that’s the most terrifying and bleak, but the realistic aspects - war, poverty, subjugation, classism. The world is grey and full of shadows and nuances, and scaffolded on power structures that sometimes need to be shifted a bit. The story (so far) follows Makepeace, a strange young girl with the ability to see dead things. Except, these aren't the sort of ghosts you'd want to meet on a dark night - we're talking wild, dangerous wisps that try to enter her mind and take over. Her mother tells her to arm herself against these spirits, before dying herself - which leaves Makepeace at the mercy of her father's strange and sinister family...

Twelve-year-old Makepeace has learned to defend herself from the ghosts which try to possess her in the night, desperate for refuge, but one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard. I didn’t know what to expect with Skinful, which perhaps made my creeping realization of being in the wrong story all the more uncomfortable. It begins with a young girl, Makepeace, feeling her way through her outsider status in a small village. It turns out that the village is populated with Puritans who looks askance at a single mother. One day Mother starts leaving her in the local cemetery so she can learn to use her skills.

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